The Usual Suspects

Eight weeks after the launching of the much-publicized crackdown against Islamic extremists, the Pakistani military government is in a quandary over how to proceed against thousands of workers of the now-banned religious groups rounded up in the nationwide swoop, especially in the absence of legally justifiable evidence that could implicate them as terrorists in a court of law.

It now seems to be looking for ways to off-load this "extra luggage" as it gears up to hold the general polls later this year. Lt. Gen (retired) Moinuddin Haider, the powerful home minister of the military regime, announced his general amnesty plan for the arrested terrorists on March 7 providing the required face-saving for the government. The amnesty offer came a day after a high court lambasted the government for making the arrests without fulfilling legal requirements and adequate evidence.

"The government will not take any action against those activists of the banned groups, who are arrested but had no criminal record," Haider announced on a talk show broadcast by state-run radio last week.

The only condition that these activists will have to fulfill to secure their release will be to give a written undertaking to the government that they will not be participating in any future activity of their groups or parties, most of which have already been banned. "Many of the arrested people have already expressed their willingness to disassociate themselves from their parties," commented Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, who heads the National Crises Management Cell at the country's home ministry.

According to one official at the home ministry, as many as 30 to 40 percent of more than 2,000 arrested "terrorists" may soon see the world outside their jails after availing the amnesty offer. They all were rounded up following the nationwide address of Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf on Jan 12, wherein he had announced tough measures to fight extremism in the country. Most of the arrested workers, however, were the victims of circumstances with no past record of involvement in any crime or terrorist activity. Their only fault was that they were members of religious groups that were very legal before Musharraf's address.

In his address, Musharraf announced the banning of Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and Jaish-i-Mohammad -- the groups accused by India for the attack on its parliament in December last year and also included in the American list of terrorist groups. He also outlawed two sectarian parties -- Sipaha-i-Sahaba Pakistan (Force for the Defense of the Friends of Prophet Mohammad) and Shi'ite Tehrik Jaferia Pakistan. Also under the government's ban was the Jihadi party that had sent more than 15,000 people to fight along the Taliban after the U.S.-led coalition attacked Afghanistan on Oct 7 last year.

The general amnesty plan has followed the military government's failed efforts to establish special civilian-military courts for the speedy trial of the arrested thousands. However, the plan met tough resistance even from sections of society that had supported its crackdown against extremism. Particularly critical of the government's plan were lawyers, who said they would boycott the military courts, calling them indefensible. They said that such courts would undermine all norms of justice and the judiciary itself.

"The council is of the considered view that such anti-terrorism courts will be military courts for all intent and purposes and this would be unconstitutional," said the Pakistan Bar Council, an apex body of legal practitioners in Pakistan.

The lawyers demonstrated their disgust over the amendments by staging strikes all over the country and boycotting the existing civilian anti-terrorism courts that were formed during the Nawaz Sharif government. "This is an expression of a total lack of confidence in the learning, integrity and competence of the judiciary of this country," the PBC said in a resolution.